


Dodge One Bullet, but Catch the Next

by UntenableFutureGoals



Series: Darcy the Pretend Alpha [3]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, F/F, Just a minor enemy character though, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Multi, Natasha straight up kills someone so there probably should be a warning for that, Omega Verse, One Shot, Pack, Pack Dynamics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-12
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2020-05-02 06:56:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19193968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UntenableFutureGoals/pseuds/UntenableFutureGoals
Summary: Alternate timeline: Darcy is hiding her status as an omega and pretending to be an alpha, but she runs out of her suppressant/scent masking and goes into heat when she gets taken hostage at a conference. Natasha comes in with the rescue.





	1. Held Hostage

**Author's Note:**

> Short alternate timeline event from my other fic, Making Soft Sounds, roughly set sometime around chpt 8, basically after meeting Maria and getting a bit comfortable with her. This is a direct parallel to a very similar scene from the Darcy/Steve fic "Once Upon A Time" by Silent_journey, which was the inspiration for Making Soft Sounds. After writing out most of Making Soft Sounds, I went back and decided to write this hostage situation within the context of my fic as a fun thought experiment.
> 
> Also, I say "short" but it's already pretty long, and despite the length I wrote it like a one-shot fic, sooooo ... I guess I'm just going to claim it's a one-shot?  
> ====

Darcy _knew_ she should have brought more of her suppressants, but honestly, she hadn't anticipated getting stuck in a large conference hall for days without being able to return to her hotel. She normally had an emergency packet of her suppressants in her pocket, because she'd been in some tight situations before, but she'd never been held hostage by extremists in a conference so hadn't thought to grab it this morning when she'd left the hotel. Fortunately, there were nearly a hundred other people held hostage with her, so it was harder for anyone to tell that the pre-heat smells were coming from her specifically without standing almost directly on top of her—she wasn't even the only omega approaching heat in the room. It also helped that basically no one knew her here other than as some nameless alpha intern, so no one tried to come over to make sure she was doing okay.

Well, no one knew her except Jane. Darcy had narrowly dodged that bullet so far by convincing Jane to stay near some other omegas and not by Darcy, since Jane was going into her heat, too. That made it an excellent excuse for Jane to not be so close to her intern, or at least not so close that she could tell Darcy's scent was changing. Unfortunately for Darcy, her scent wasn't the only thing that was changing—the pretend-alpha could feel her emotions starting to swing more, and she was feeling simultaneously hot and cold at the same time. When she felt safely hidden from the eyes of their captors, she'd been googling madly about heat symptoms and potential ways to prevent heat on the phone that she'd managed to hide from the terrorists—she didn't know how stupid they could possibly be to think that she would have actually 'forgotten her phone back at the hotel'. Right now though, the extremists were patrolling too frequently to look at her phone, and it wasn't like she could actually make use of any of the online advice she'd found while she was stuck in the conference hall.

Earlier she'd managed to get a text off to both Maria and Natasha to inform them of the situation, and let them know to tell Thor—but to _not_ tell him that his mate was about to go into heat. Darcy figured Natasha and Maria would be safe knowing that, but telling Thor would be like holding out your cigarette and asking for a light in the middle of a fireworks factory, even more so since said alpha was an Asgardian god who liked to think he was invincible. Darcy had told Maria and Natasha just so that way they could use it as a pull-out-all-the-stops-and-kick-ass card with Thor, should they need it.

Darcy shivered again where she was sitting against the wall, away from everyone else. She didn't want anyone to talk to her, and she couldn't pull out her phone to distract herself—even disregarding the obvious risk of losing her phone, she also didn't want to give any of the roving extremist guards a reason to approach her and potentially find out her near-heat status. At some point Darcy knew this would all come crashing down, because hoping no one approached or tried to speak to you was not exactly a sustainable strategy for defense, but for now Darcy would cling to what little defenses she had with all her might. She still had at least another day to go before she had any serious problems if her research was right, and after that would be ... problematic.

Given that some of the other omegas in the hall were closer to their heat than Darcy was made Darcy really surprised that the hostage takers hadn't tried to separate any of the omegas—Darcy herself was having problems not going over to the omegas closer to heat to at least make sure they were doing okay. Even without the innate desire for any status to help an omega in heat or pre-heat, there was also the sympathy heat problem—just one omega in full heat though would trigger the whole damn hall, and Darcy was hoping that the scent of other omegas nearing heat wasn't going to make hers approach faster. Jane smiled over at her and gave her a little wave, and Darcy pulled her face up into a reassuring smile and waved back. They could see each other, but this far away Jane couldn't smell her—and almost as importantly, Darcy couldn't smell Jane.

She hadn't told Jane yet that rescue was on its way, since they hadn't been close enough to each other to pass the message quietly—Darcy had surreptitiously sent her message when she was supposed to be sleeping. Well, Darcy _hoped_ rescue was on its way. She hadn't exactly looked at her phone since then. Just as Darcy was starting to get lost in her spiraling thoughts again, something solid thunked down next to her in the slowly dimming early evening light, and Darcy turned over to have a good look at it. It sort of looked like a ... grenade? Darcy's eyes widened and she scrambled away as fast as she could.

It seemed to not be the exploding kind, because seconds later smoke started pouring out of it. The hostage takers started shouting commands to one another, their boots pounding the hall floor as they ran to where the smoke was coming in. Darcy scrambled to go the other way, but then figures started dropping in from the ceiling. Darcy caught sight of a big muscled figure with blond hair and a big hammer, and knew the promised rescue had arrived. People were running everywhere, and in the thickening smoke Darcy was finding it harder to figure out which ones were terrorists, which were hostages, and which were Avengers, so she just tried to stay away from everyone. Suddenly a shape loomed next to her, and before Darcy got a chance to dart away like she'd been doing, the extremist grabbed her and pressed their gun under Darcy's chin. The extremist was wearing a gas mask, and Darcy didn't know if there was anything to the smoke other than just acting as a smoke screen, but if there were it wouldn't affect them.

The extremist backed them both to a corner, shouting that everyone should stay back. The man's breath—she was pretty sure it was a man, from the lack of boobs pressing into her back, although really that wasn't a guarantee—somehow was gross even despite the gas mask, or maybe that was just the man's natural odor. In any case, he stunk, and Darcy had to try to keep herself from gagging or reacting to the smell in any way that might get her shot. The extremist's buddies seemed to be having a bad time of it, and soon the shadowy shapes of Avengers were backing Darcy and her captor further into the corner, the man's gun still pressed to Darcy's neck.

Suddenly, the extremist holding her jerked his head with a sickening scrunch noise, then he slowly lost his grip on Darcy and slumped to the floor. Darcy had frozen with the noise, and slowly she glanced backwards to see Natasha—her beautiful, deadly assassin potential mate, not that Darcy had ever used the 'm' word out loud before—prying a knife from the back of the now-dead man's neck. Darcy was still in shock, trying to process what was going on, and she stepped backwards from this dead extremist and Natasha, unconsciously trying to keep herself safe with distance.

"Darcy," Natasha said, her voice and gaze intense, eyes fixed on Darcy even as she quickly cleaned and sheathed her knife. Darcy's insides seemed to sing at the sound of the beta's voice, and Darcy stepped back again, trying to fight the pull towards Natasha. "Are you alright?" Natasha's eyes roamed up and down Darcy's body, and the young intern shivered.

"I- I'm fine," Darcy said, voice cracking. "Is it ... safe yet?"

"It will be, just give us a few more minutes." Natasha took a step forward as if to move to embrace Darcy, but when Darcy stepped back again, Natasha ceased her forward motion. "Just ... wait here, okay? I'll come get you when it's all clear."

Darcy nodded, not trusting her voice, and Natasha disappeared into the swirling smoke after one more searching glance at Darcy. Slumping against the wall, the pretend-alpha intern exhaled sharply in relief. She knew she wasn't really saved yet, at least not without her suppressants, but at least now there were no longer armed hostage takers involved.

The young intern paid close attention to the barely discernible shapes in the still-smoky air, trying to gauge how the Avengers' attack was going. When she started to see people being led out the doors by local cops, Darcy went towards one of the other exits in the building that it seemed most people had forgotten about. She slipped out the side, closing the door quickly behind her, and then darted down the alley towards the street. It wasn't the main street, but it would get her to her hotel quickly and hopefully mostly unseen. Darcy walked hurriedly down the street, only managing to keep from running because she knew it would draw too much attention to herself.

It was lucky for her that the cops hadn't realized that rescued people might go out of the side doors. Since it seemed like nearly everyone who had been taken hostage wanted nothing more than to have the police help them, it must not have occurred to the authorities to watch for stragglers just running off after the extremists had been taken care of. It seemed to Darcy that she was essentially the only former hostage walking down the street, and it was getting dark now so no one really noticed her somewhat unkempt appearance. She made it to the side door of her hotel and swiped her card over the reader, praying to gods Asgardian and Earthly alike that her card still worked. It beeped and the light flashed green, and Darcy pushed the door open with a sigh.

There were a few people standing around in the lobby, but none of them really paid attention to her. Fortunately despite having not showered in three days, Darcy didn't look that bad, just exhausted, and walked over to the elevator bank. An elevator was already waiting on the ground floor, lucky for her—otherwise she probably would have taken the stairs, and Darcy _hated_ stairs—and she went in, punching the button for her floor. No one was in the hallway on her floor, and Darcy nearly ran down the hall to her door. As soon as she got the door open, she collapsed against the inside of it, pushing it shut and throwing the bolt before sliding slowly down to the floor.

She wasn't ashamed to admit that she cried for a bit after falling to the floor—she'd had a rough couple of days, and it was entirely understandable to cry—but she was roused from her tears by her phone vibrating in her pocket. Warily, Darcy fished it out, finding not one but three messages from Natasha.

> Nat: where are you  
>  Nat: come out to the front entrance  
>  Nat: the doctors want to check everyone out

Well, Darcy definitely wasn't going to let a doctor check her out right now, and not in the middle of the press of people that was probably sitting out in front of the conference hall. She hadn't been harmed at all anyway, other than perhaps a bit of dehydration or hunger or exhaustion. Remembering that made the young intern want to just sleep, her eyes watering a bit more from the exhaustion and residual stress. Shaking her head, Darcy first needed to take care of the most important thing—she needed her suppressants.

Since Darcy never really expected to go into heat—she was always on her supplements that acted as a natural heat suppressant—she didn't have any emergency heat suppressants on hand. Darcy could probably go to a pharmacy and get some, but that meant going outside, and she really wanted to avoid that if she could. So Darcy pulled out the bottle of pills in her bag and took one of her normal suppressants, dry-swallowing it, and hoped that it would be enough. In the meantime, she needed to get out of these clothes and shower to get the heat scent off of her that had been slowly but steadily building up. Maybe if she washed with a lot of soap and hot water, and put on some clean, un-heat-scented clothes, she could make it to a pharmacy.

Darcy turned on the water for the shower and started looking up pharmacies on her phone while she waited for it to warm up. She'd found one about a ten minute walk away by the time the water was hot, and then got in. Darcy forgot completely about Natasha messaging her, or about trying to figure out an excuse for why she'd left, until she'd been soaking in the shower for a while and heard a familiar voice in her hotel room.

"Darcy?" Natasha's voice called out.

Darcy swore under her breath. Of course Natasha would come looking for her, and it wasn't like a hotel door lock would keep out a master spy. Darcy quickly reached an arm out of the shower to grab her discarded and very heat-scented clothes, pulling them into the water to get rid of the scent. Deciding it would be worse to be silent, Darcy called out, "I'm in the shower." Thinking that would be the end of it, and that the exhausted intern would be allowed to procrastinate in the water longer before having to interact with her potential mate, Darcy quickly found out that she had thought wrong when the bathroom door opened.

"Are you okay?" Natasha asked, stepping inside. The clear walls of the shower were fogged, but almost everything was still visible through it, and Darcy could see Natasha's eyes raking over her body. Darcy shivered. She knew that Natasha was only scanning her for injury, but Darcy's heat instincts didn't care when it was her mate looking at her body.

"I'm fine," Darcy said, wincing slightly when her voice sounded distinctly not fine. "I just ... needed to get away." Not wanting to be seen just standing in the water, Darcy turned and began lathering her hair up. Damn, it felt good to finally get clean again. She sighed in contentment at the sensation.

"You didn't reply to my message," Natasha said, her voice and expression guarded and difficult to read.

"I just ... I'm sorry, I just really wanted to get in the shower." Darcy tilted her head back into the still blessedly hot water—silently thanking every godlike being for hotels with huge hot water tanks. Running her fingers through it, she decided to give it another wash before putting conditioner in.

"Jane's heat is starting," Natasha said, trying for a more conversational tone.

"Yeah, I ... I know," Darcy said, sighing. She didn't want to explain anything about the sigh, or how she knew, or talk about being affected by it, so instead she focused on rubbing the shampoo into her scalp. It was an incredibly nice feeling after days of being itchy and scared, and soothing after breaking down crying in her hotel room alone. Darcy lost herself to the sensation, and groaned in pleasure.

"Darcy? Are you okay?" Natasha sounded a bit anxious now.

Darcy opened her eyes—which had involuntarily slid closed in pleasure—to see that Natasha had pressed her entire body up against the glass wall of the shower, one hand held up to the glass as if the spy could push it through the shower wall to reach for Darcy. The yearning in the posture of her mate made Darcy instinctively raise her hand and place it against the glass over Natasha's hand. They held their positions for a moment, before Darcy realized she needed to finish her shower and got back to washing.

"Do you want me to come in there with you?" Natasha asked, still sounding a bit anxious, and Darcy realized she'd never answered the spy's question.

"No, no I'm fine. I'm just enjoying getting clean after ... all that."

"Okay," Natasha said, not sounding convinced but accepting Darcy's answer anyway. "Are you hungry? Do you want me to go get some dinner?"

"Oh, that would be amazing," Darcy said with feeling, turning pleading eyes on Natasha.

Natasha's lips twitched upwards into a faint smile. "Alright. Chinese? Pizza? Shawarma?"

Darcy thought about it, standing under the hot spray. "Shawarma?" she asked, and then Natasha nodded and turned to leave the room. "Wait!" Darcy said, suddenly remembering. "I need ... can you get something from the pharmacy for me? A ... one of those emergency suppressants." She didn't really want to have anyone else knowing about this, but leaving the hotel room would risk more exposure. Hopefully, she could manage to get Natasha to buy it for her, and then later find an excuse to have the Russian stay out of the hotel room long enough for Darcy to use it and have it kick in.

Natasha's brow furrowed. "A suppressant? But Jane didn't ask for anything."

Darcy really did not want to explain how or why, but maybe she could play the protective alpha card. Packing as much urgency and alpha-command into her voice as she could, she said firmly, " _I don't care if she's asked or not, just get it_." That sounded a bit too harsh, so Darcy added quickly in a much milder tone of voice, "Please, Natasha."

Natasha had stilled at the command, holding there for a moment, and Darcy wondered if she'd offended the beta spy, but then Natasha shook her head as if clearing it. "Alright, I'll get it."

"There's a pharmacy only ten minutes from here—here, look," Darcy said, opening the clear door of the shower and leaning out to unlock her phone to the map she had open, dripping water everywhere. Luckily Darcy had wised up and finally gotten a phone was water-resistant, after multiple liquid-based accidents with past phones, so her dripping water on the phone wasn't a problem.

Natasha only glanced at Darcy's naked body briefly before studying the map on the phone. The beta said, after a few seconds, "Okay, I know how to find this. I'll be right back." The spy gave Darcy a look as if she was thinking about hugging her, but since the intern was still dripping wet, Natasha just smiled reassuringly at Darcy and then left.

Darcy sighed in relief and got back in the shower to finish up, working some conditioner in her hair. Then she focused on cleaning every other part of her body thoroughly, intent on getting both all the dirt and sweat and fear off, but also the residual heat scent. The last thing she did before getting out was thoroughly wash the scent glands on either side of her neck. She got out of the shower and toweled off, thinking about ways to try and get out of this situation with her cover status as an alpha intact. There were some scarves she'd packed in her bag, just in case, but they were probably too thin to really block the heat scent for long, and would probably only work for short distances. Perhaps she could twist them tight and put a jacket on over it?

Her head jerked up as she heard a noise in the hotel room. Was Natasha back already? How long had Darcy been standing there with her thoughts spiraling? She looked down at herself and realized that she had finished toweling herself off without noticing and was now standing staring at herself in the mirror, completely dry. Natasha called out to her, and Darcy said, "Just drying my hair." Hurriedly, she wrapped the wettest edge of the towel around her neck with the rest laying over her hair, and began rubbing at the wet tresses. Maybe it wouldn't look too weird if she kept the wet towel against her neck while she dried with the other towel?

Natasha cracked the door open and popped her head inside, obviously still worried about Darcy and wanting to check on her.

"Can you bring the suppressant here? I want to read it while I dry off," Darcy said, internally congratulating herself for coming up with a reasonable excuse. Natasha nodded, her expression difficult to read, and left to go get it, returning moments later to pass it through the crack in the door. Darcy thanked her, setting the box on the counter to open it up and pull out the instruction paper.

"The pharmacist said that if the omega is too far gone it'll only delay the onset of heat, not prevent it entirely," Natasha said behind Darcy, startling her—she'd thought Natasha had left.

"Jesus," Darcy swore, and flushed. She didn't bother trying to excuse the outburst, and just focused on continuing to unfold the instructions. She glanced in the box and found that it was the injectable kind and swore again—she had never had to give herself an injection before. She flipped the instructions page over and spread it out over the counter, trying to finding directions on where and how exactly to do an injection.

This time the soft noise behind her didn't startle her as Natasha closed the door. "Darcy," she said with concern and reached out to put a hand on Darcy's arm, and Darcy realized that her arm under Natasha's hand was trembling slightly, as was the rest of her. "Let me help you."

"I don't need any help, Natasha," Darcy said, voice tense and a little harsh, trying to press her hands down on the countertop to still their shaking as she looked over the unwieldy sheet of paper. She frowned, the words of the instructions really hard to absorb right then. Natasha squeezed Darcy's arm lightly to comfort her. Giving in to her mate's silent presence, Darcy said, much softer, "I can't have you find out what's going on."

"Darcy, I would defend any secret you have with my life," Natasha said, her voice not demanding, but open and earnest. "Just please, _please_ , let me help."

That love and care was too much for Darcy in her currently shaky state, and a sob escaped her, and then before she could even try to stifle it she started sobbing uncontrollably, pulling her hands up to her face. Natasha gently but determinedly pulled Darcy into her embrace—Darcy at first resisting, but then when she was no longer able to deny that she needed Natasha's comfort, she relented and let Natasha hold her while she cried.

"Oh Darcy," the Russian spy said softly, tucking Darcy's chin onto her shoulder and neck, probably trying to get Darcy to calm herself using Natasha's scent. The intern just sobbed harder and fisted her hands into Natasha's jacket while the Avenger traced soothing circles onto Darcy's back and just held her.

Eventually, Darcy's sobs lessened and she lifted her head up—Natasha's scent _had_ worked in calming her—and wiped her face off. "I'd say you need a shower now, but I think you just got one," Darcy said wetly, not even smiling at her own feeble attempt at a joke.

Natasha smiled though, and brushed some of Darcy's hair back behind her ear, returning the quip lightly. "I guess I don't have to take one then." Natasha reached to the wet towel still hanging around Darcy's neck and started to unwrap it, and Darcy reflexively grabbed at it to hold it in place. "Baby, it's all wet—let's get it off you," Natasha said, trying to coax Darcy to let go.

Darcy shook her head fervently.

"Let's at least get you a dry towel?"

"Wetter is better," Darcy said at a low volume, still refusing to let go of the ends of the towel. Wet cloth would much more effectively block her scent, at least in the short term.

Natasha chuckled lightly, saying, "I can't believe that you said something as inherently dirty as that without meaning it in a dirty sense." Darcy uncharacteristically ignored the statement and just looked down, and then Natasha said in a firmer tone, "Darcy."

Darcy's whole body slumped in defeat, and she relinquished the ends of the towel, which Natasha promptly unwrapped from Darcy before again putting her arms around Darcy's back and shoulders. Natasha just held Darcy for a bit, and it took a few moments before Darcy realized she was crying again. "I thought I was _done_ crying," she said, exhausted and exasperated at herself.

"Baby, you can cry just as much as you need to," Natasha said firmly.

Darcy sighed and pushed herself back, resigned. She knew that it was probably too late to keep her mate from guessing about her hidden omega status—even if Natasha had somehow not smelled her pre-heat scent yet, which was unlikely—and the crying and later comfort from her mate's embrace had drained all the will to keep fighting from her body. She definitely didn't want to actually talk about it though, so she just moved on with the understanding that Natasha already knew.

Pushing some of her wet hair back, Darcy said, "Well, I guess we'd better get this injection done so it can start to take effect. I already don't like where I'm at." She turned back to the instruction sheet, only slightly shifted from its position on the counter after Darcy's crying episode. "I've never given myself an injection before."

Natasha glanced at the paper. "I know it's weird and a slightly uncomfortable idea, but the top of the butt just below the back is the least painful spot to get an injection. The arm is more normal because most people want to be able to see where the injection is going—a place you can't see is naturally a little scary—but the arm always hurts more and then is sore for hours or even up to a day or two."

Darcy frowned at the list of injection locations on the page, considering. "How would you even give yourself an injection in the ass?" she asked incredulously.

Natasha laughed lightly. "No, the ass is usually when you have someone else around to give you the injection. Thighs are the most common place for self injections."

Taking a deep breath, Darcy exhaled sharply and said in a resigned voice, "Well, I guess you should give it to me in the ass then."

Natasha shook her head lightly as she turned to the sink and began thoroughly washing her hands. "Again I'm impressed at you being able to say those words without making an innuendo—Clint will never believe me when I tell him." The spy dried her hands and then pulled out the syringe from the box, uncapping it.

Darcy turned around and placed her hands flat on the counter with her back to Natasha, slightly bent over. "I can be serious," Darcy grumbled halfheartedly. She was kind of thankful for the light conversation, which was actually working quite well at distracting her from what was happening.

"Okay, I'm going to touch your skin with my hand, this is where I'm going to do the injection," Natasha said, and Darcy felt a warm but calloused hand against her skin. Darcy nodded. "Alright there? Good, now there will be a little pinch when it goes in, I'm putting it in you now."

Darcy felt the ridiculous urge to giggle at Natasha's wording, wanting to say some quip about how now Natasha was talking dirty to her, but then Darcy felt the pinch that Natasha had mentioned and it distracted her. It surprisingly didn't really hurt, and Natasha talked her through the injection process as she slowly emptied the syringe. Darcy twisted her head back once or twice to watch what was going on, but Natasha clucked at her and told her to keep still.

"Why's it take so long?" Darcy asked, stuck looking at herself in the mirror while she waited.

"If I put it into you all at once, it'll hurt," Natasha said.

This time Darcy couldn't resist and she giggled.

"Darcy!" Natasha admonished her, but Darcy could hear the amusement in Natasha's voice.

"Sorry! You're the one saying dirty things now—it's not my fault if it's funny."

Natasha huffed, and finally withdrew the needle from Darcy's ass. She then made Darcy apply pressure to the spot while she went to go get a bandage. She came back with a generic tan one, and Darcy wondered where it had been stashed.

"Do they make Black Widow themed bandages? I think I might need to buy some," Darcy said idly while Natasha peeled open the bandage and stuck it on her.

"I'm sure they do, but probably only the cheap knock-off ones," Natasha said without any hint of emotion in her voice. Darcy often teased Natasha about Avengers- or Black Widow-themed merchandise to try and get a rise out of the spy, and Natasha always tried to pretend to be totally unaffected by it—but Darcy was pretty sure Natasha liked having Darcy wear her stuff. Once Darcy had put on Black Widow boxers as shorts while they were hanging around her apartment, and Natasha hadn't been able to stop staring at the younger intern's rear (or front) the entire night with a hungry expression, much to Darcy's amusement.

Darcy started dumping the trash and packaging back into the box—Natasha took the used syringe and snapped it into the biohazard tube that had been provided with the box, and set it aside for special disposal later. After a few moments of working in silence, Natasha said softly, "Just so you know, I don't think this injection is going to prevent your heat—you smell pretty far along already."

"Fuck," Darcy swore, her good mood evaporating instantly.

"It'll give us a roughly twenty-four hour window to get you someplace safe, though."

Darcy looked at Natasha in surprise. "We wouldn't just stay here?"

Natasha raised an eyebrow. "I doubt the hotel would like that—they probably have rooms for emergency heats, but with them being already crowded from the conference, and potentially other people going into heat unexpectedly who don't have a way to leave quickly, I think we should use this opportunity to get you out of here."

Darcy's heart sank. She had been hoping to not go outside until this passed. "How are we going to do that?"

"Emergency evacuation through SHIELD—they already have protocol to lift out omegas in heat when requested, and they've done it quite a few times, although mostly for SHIELD personnel or at the request of SHIELD personnel."

"I'm guessing at your request then," Darcy said, and Natasha nodded to confirm. Darcy looked down at her hands on the counter. "I don't want anyone else to know about this," she said, voice barely above a whisper.

Natasha wrapped her arms around Darcy, holding her comfortingly. "It's completely confidential and they'll hide your identity—not even SHIELD or any of the assisting agents will know who they're transporting if I tell them to use full privacy measures."

Darcy turned in Natasha's arms to look at her searchingly, trying to determine the truth of her words, and whether or not she wanted to risk it. Finally Darcy asked, "And you think that's better than trying to stay here? No one will find out?"

"Yes," Natasha said with complete sincerity.

Darcy sighed, then nodded. "If you think this is the best way ...," Darcy trailed off, and Natasha nodded seriously. "Alright. But no one else can know about this, and I mean _no one_. You are literally the only other person on the planet that knows this about me—not even Jane knows."

Natasha blinked, obviously taken a bit aback, but the spy looked into Darcy's eyes and repeated her earlier vow, "I will guard your secrets with my life."

Darcy gazed back, seeing the sincere promise in Natasha's expression, and spontaneously hugged the shorter woman hard, releasing a shuddering breath. She actually felt strangely relieved that someone else knew and was trying to help protect her. Natasha returned the tight embrace with equal fervor.

After a few moments of comfort, Natasha pulled back and rubbed a hand over Darcy's cheek. "But we should get you dressed and fed. When was the last time you ate?"

"They gave us some leftover catered sandwiches around lunchtime I think, or maybe a bit before."

Natasha nodded once, that confirming her thoughts. "Well it's past time for you to eat."

Natasha made Darcy get dressed before she could eat—Darcy complained about feeling warm and more comfortable naked, but then Natasha mentioned that it was probably caused by her near-heat state. After that Darcy promptly put her clothes on without complaint, although she chose the softest materials out of what she'd brought, because everything else seemed too rough.

While Darcy ate, Natasha called in the emergency heat assistance and scheduled a pick up nearby. As soon as Darcy finished her shawarma, Natasha had her bundled up with as many layers as Darcy could stand. They had to wait on the roof of a building with Darcy's luggage thrown into some SHIELD issue sacks to disguise them, Darcy clinging to Natasha's hand nervously. The quinjet landed, surprisingly less noisy than Darcy had been anticipating, and Natasha hustled Darcy into the jet and into the back of the cabin where a special modular wall was set up creating a compartment separated from the rest of the cabin. She left Darcy inside, closing the door to the back compartment, saying she was getting the bags and then she'd be back in here with Darcy.

Darcy waited anxiously, the minutes feeling long, wishing she could loosen her scarf or take her beanie or jacket off, but worrying that it might not be safe to yet. After what must have been only a couple minutes later but to Darcy felt like hours, Natasha reopened the compartment and stepped inside, the sounds of the quinjet preparing for take of filtering into the small room. Darcy reached out and grabbed onto Natasha as soon as the spy was near enough, wrapping herself around the beta. As before, Natasha tucked Darcy's nose into the side of her neck, and Darcy inhaled greedily, trying to calm herself down. Surprisingly given how worried and anxious Darcy was, she managed to fall asleep within minutes of takeoff, still wrapped in her mate's arms.


	2. The longest two hours

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one is a little later than I'd intended, but unfortunately work happened. Also, it looks like I'll need to up the rating on this fic. I forgot I had explicit sex scenes in this one.

It was only a two hour trip, but it was probably some of the longest two hours that Natasha had ever spent in her life—and that included the extremely anxiety inducing time that Natasha had spent after learning that Darcy was being held hostage _and_ the worrying hours in that hotel room before Darcy would allow Natasha to help her. The Black Widow was still stunned by the revelation that Darcy was actually an omega—the younger woman had pulled off the act so completely that even a master spy like Natasha had been completely fooled. The former assassin was impressed, but the situation was also incredibly worrying. It didn't feel to Natasha like Darcy was doing this out of choice but necessity, and that made the spy guess that something bad had happened to Darcy to cause this.

Right now though, Natasha was thoroughly distracted by the fact that a) a near-heat omega was wrapped around her, and this close the suppressant shot was only partially effective, and b) the near-heat omega was Natasha's mate, and c) said near-heat mate was incredibly distressed. Even in her sleep, Darcy kept making little whimpering noises that had Natasha nearly falling over herself to try and soothe.

So far, Natasha had withheld all information about who it was she was assisting with this emergency evacuation, as Darcy had requested, but she knew there was going to be an issue with Assistant Director Maria Hill when they got back. Natasha had given Maria status updates saying that Darcy was okay, but Maria wouldn't be willing to settle for just text messages once Natasha had returned to the tower, and claiming that Natasha was helping an omega in need wouldn't really delay her long, especially if Natasha remained holed up with the omega for the entirety of the heat. Maria would know immediately that something was up, and Natasha doubted that even the other Avengers would be able to stop her once Hill became determined to find out.

The only real way to settle this would be to simply invite Maria to come to them in their quarantine, lessening the risk of exposure that any determined fight would bring. Now Natasha just had to convince Darcy of this fact, but now was not the right time. The suppressant shot had by now taken effect, and Darcy should feel her emotions stabilize, but the young omega was so exhausted from the ordeal of the past few days that she needed sleep first. There would be time in the morning to deal with Maria and convincing Darcy.

In the meantime, it meant that Natasha was wholly absorbed with gently massaging her mate's back and holding her through this trip, and trying to restrain from the sensual touching that Natasha's hands itched to do. Natasha was glad that Darcy had thought to demand the suppressant earlier. She didn't know if she could have made this trip if Darcy had been smelling as strongly heat-scented as she had been when Natasha had gotten her first whiff after Darcy had gotten out of her shower. The only thing that had prevented Natasha from acting on her arousal then had been the fact that Darcy was sobbing and desperately needed her help. Even then, it was only through pure force of will that Natasha had behaved herself when Darcy was pressed up against her fully naked. Convincing Darcy to get dressed afterwards had been an act of survival.

Natasha tried to dispel the thoughts of Darcy naked—this trip was already difficult as it was—and thought back to all the little signs that Darcy had made that could have clued Natasha into Darcy's status. There were surprisingly few of them that Natasha could recall. The biggest one had been when Natasha had questioned getting the suppressant and Darcy had commanded her to go buy it—that had been too powerful a command to be alpha influence, and in fact the forcefulness of Darcy's command had stunned Natasha into stillness. No, that strength of command could only come from an omega, and Darcy had never used that before in Natasha's hearing. Looking back, Natasha could see that Darcy had been exceedingly careful in protecting her hidden status.

The comms unit in Natasha's ear beeped, and the pilot informed her that they were five minutes out from landing. Natasha acknowledged in a quiet voice before switching the earpiece off, and then started gently waking Darcy up, telling her that they'd be landing soon. Darcy blinked at her sleepily, slowly processing what was going on, and Natasha reminded her that they were going to be taking a secured elevator down directly to the heat room as soon as they landed. Darcy nodded, still rubbing her eyes blearily.

The unmistakable sound of the ramp lowering finished, and Darcy went to stand up but Natasha stopped her. "We have to wait here for a few more minutes while they carry your bags down to the heat room first." Darcy looked worried at that, probably thinking about any residual scents on the bags, so Natasha said, reassuring, "It's Clint, and he won't say anything to anyone, even if he does manage to figure anything out. Which I doubt he will, because those bags are designed to be impermeable to scents and you were only in the room with your bags for a short time—they shouldn't have that strong of a scent on them yet."

Darcy took a deep breath and nodded, and then tucked her head back into the crook of Natasha's neck while they waited, breathing deeply. Natasha smiled and rubbed the back of Darcy's head comfortingly. It was very pleasing to be able to calm her mate that way, which was something that Natasha never thought she'd have reason to do—partly because of the type of work that she'd done in the past, and that she didn't think she'd ever really get a traditional mate relationship. That was of course all before Darcy had come along, completely blowing all Natasha's previous ideas about mates out of the water. Natasha knew some of the effect the younger woman had on her was just because Darcy was Darcy and didn't do conventional in anything in her life, but Natasha also admitted that some of this was probably because they were potential mates and had that capacity to deeply connect on a level that Natasha had never had with anyone else.

Maria was the only other person Natasha had been able to connect with so completely and effortlessly, and the assistant director was another of Natasha's potential mates. Natasha hadn't believed she would ever be able to connect with anyone as well as she had with Clint—they both had had traumatic pasts, both had done things they weren't proud of, both were skilled physically and mentally as the closest human equivalent of a weapon. She had been surprised that she might be able to trust him, when she had only known him for a year, which seemed like an indecently short time to Natasha.

And then Darcy had flounced into her life, breaking down all the walls that Natasha had built up over decades of pain, tearing back the covers that Natasha had used to hide her heart. Clint may have found the entire situation hilarious, but Natasha's world had been rocked to its core, and she would never recover. Looking at that amazing and adorable person who was Natasha's potential mate that first night as they sat together in Dr. Foster's lab waiting to hear about Clint's release from quarantine, Natasha had realized in that moment—with some extreme internal surprise—that she didn't even want to recover. She had _wanted_ to be captured by this woman.

Later, when Natasha had met Maria Hill for the first time and felt that immediate connection to her like Natasha had for Darcy, and she realized that it wasn't simply because Darcy was such a uniquely endearing person—that it was because this was how mates were—Natasha's world had been rocked to its core a second time. Natasha had always previously considered mates and mate-scent to be a foolish and overly romantic overreaction to what was simply a signal of biological compatibility.

How wrong Natasha had been about that.

Natasha's earpiece beeped again and she heard Clint relaying that his task was complete. "Baby," she said softly, rubbing Darcy's back, rousing her from where she'd again drifted off to sleep. It was pretty late at night now, and it had been a long few days for Darcy, but Natasha wanted to get them safe and inside where Darcy could rest as long as she needed to.

Helping Darcy to her feet, they made their way out of the aircraft. The pilot had already left, and there were no witnesses on the landing pad, as Natasha had ordered for this evacuation—although Darcy was still wearing her beanie, scarf and jacket, and had her face all but hidden against Natasha. Guiding Darcy with an arm around her shoulders, Natasha led them to the elevator that was standing open. Without needed to give any commands or hit a button, JARVIS slid the doors closed and took them to the emergency heat floor. There were actually several rooms on the same floor all suited for heats, but the exit from the elevator was modular, and all four walls of the elevator could lead them down different corridors to limit cross-contact.

Darcy bags were sitting outside the heat room door, and once they'd arrived Darcy detached herself from Natasha and grabbed one to drag it inside, wanting to get this over with. Natasha grabbed the other, and then finally the door closed behind them and Natasha heaved a sigh of relief, finally safe. Darcy giggled at her, and Natasha pulled Darcy into a spontaneous hug of joy.

"Sorry," Natasha said into Darcy's hair, "it's just that that was stressful and I'm glad it's over."

Darcy giggled again. "How was that stressful for you? You're a super spysassin—there wasn't even anyone shooting at us."

Natasha involuntarily squeezed Darcy tighter. "Don't even joke about that," Natasha said, pained at the very idea. "Yes, I've been on lots of dangerous missions before, but never with you. I don't know what I would do if you got hurt or someone threatened you."

"Awww, being all protective of me?" Darcy said, and in her exhaustion and sleepiness she was completely unguarded in her reactions—and probably at least partly from the powerful suppressants in her system. Darcy rubbed her cheek against Natasha's and then nuzzled it, pressing kisses against Natasha's skin until she'd reached Natasha's lips and drew Natasha into a slow and lingering kiss.

When Darcy pulled back, Natasha was a little breathless and overcome by her mate's undeniable allure—although much more muted at the moment. That had still been a damn amazing kiss. Recovering quickly, Natasha made Darcy get ready for bed, which was the only excuse Darcy needed to strip all her clothes off. Natasha briefly attempted to make Darcy put on at least a soft teeshirt for sleeping in, but Darcy simply gave her a look and then flopped backwards into the huge bed with no small amount of glee.

Darcy giggled and made a snow angel over the covers—not quite as efficient as it would be with actual snow—before she got bored with the bed and propped herself up on one elbow to watch Natasha as she stripped Darcy's luggage of their covers and pulled them into the bedroom for later. While Darcy was getting undressed, Natasha had done a quick inventory of the bedroom and its small combined living room-kitchen, and had found that as usual it was incredibly overstocked with basically everything. There were even sex toys in the nightstand drawer—it _was_ a heat room, after all—and extra clothes that would be useful in this situation, like soft teeshirts and sweatpants. Natasha had basically everything she thought they might need.

"Hey," Darcy called softly, as Natasha dropped the last bag against the far wall. Natasha looked up to see Darcy's liquid eyes watching her intently—were Darcy's pupils that dilated before?—and found that she couldn't look away. Natasha swallowed hard. "Are you gonna stay here with me?"

Natasha nodded, then finding her words she said, "I'm going to take a shower first though—I'm still covered in smoke and gravel from the rescue op."

"Ugh what? You could have told me that _before_ I rubbed myself all over you," Darcy said with a wry grin.

"Hmmm, I doubt it would have stopped you," Natasha said, digging into the provided clothes for a tee and pair of sweats. She didn't have any of her clothes here, so these would work for now.

"Nope!" Darcy agreed cheerfully, falling backwards onto the bed and snuggling into the pillows. "These are so soft," Darcy said wonderingly, and nuzzled the pillows again.

Natasha's mouth slowly curved upwards into a wide smile. "Baby, get under the covers, I'll be right there," she said in a openly adoring voice. Seeing that Darcy was doing so, Natasha disappeared into the bathroom to shower.

====

Maria sat on her couch with her foot tapping impatiently against the coffee table. It had been nearly thirty hours since Darcy had informed them of the hostage situation, and both Maria and Natasha had been on edge for the entire previous day when Darcy had failed to be as talkative as she normally was in chat. It had been more than ten hours since the rescue operation successfully completed. Natasha had messaged Maria privately shortly afterward to let Maria know that Natasha had seen Darcy and that she had been unharmed but was rather shaken up (understandably) by the experience.

But then it had been almost complete radio silence after that, and the other Avengers and SHIELD agents on the ground onsite didn't know where either Natasha or Darcy were, and hadn't had eyes on them for quite some time. Intellectually Maria knew that Natasha was one of the best agents SHIELD had ever had, and that there was very little that Natasha wouldn't do to protect Darcy—and that was an impressive arsenal. So logically, Maria could surmise that Natasha and Darcy were radio silent because of personal and not safety issues, which meant that Maria should absolutely not jump into a quinjet with a team of agents and search the entire city for them, no matter how much she wanted to.

So instead, Maria was forced to wait for them to check in with her. There had been one message from Natasha hours later telling Maria that they were back in Darcy's hotel room, apologizing for not being in contact and that Maria shouldn't worry. And then there was nothing again for hours until Natasha called in through SHIELD requesting an omega heat evac. That had caught Maria's instant and undivided attention, because trying to assist with an in-heat omega would certainly explain the long silences when Natasha was well aware of how much Maria would be worrying.

Natasha had requested full privacy protocols on the evac, and hadn't given Maria any other details—though to be honest, Maria hadn't exactly announced that she was running mission overwatch for that operation, partly because Maria guessed that Natasha might request a different handler if she knew. But it had been a way for Maria to remain informed of Natasha's status in a way that wasn't intrusive or overbearing, and someone had to do it anyway, so since Maria's attention was focused there it made sense from a project management perspective for Maria to oversee it. And that was exactly what she would tell anyone who might question why the assistant director of SHIELD was overseeing a simple omega heat evac immediately following a large operation.

Then that simple mission had ended, and the in-heat omega in question was safely ensconced in one of the emergency heat rooms in Avengers tower with Natasha. No one had mentioned where Darcy was in all of this, or how she was involved, but Maria knew that Natasha would never let Darcy far out of her sight so soon after Darcy had been in a dangerous situation. Hill guessed that Darcy was probably either back in her rooms in Avengers tower as well, or was in the heat room _with_ Natasha.

And that meant that there was a good chance that a potential mate was the omega currently in heat. At the idea of a mate, an omega mate, the pen in Maria's hand creaked warningly, nearly breaking from the white knuckled grip she had on it, and Maria made a disgruntled sound and dropped the pen onto the table. Needing something to do, she popped up to her feet and started pacing her living room. She was still waiting to hear back from Natasha about ... well, anything really, but specifically how she and Darcy were doing now that they were back at Avengers Tower, and how they were involved with the in-heat omega. Even if the in-heat omega was currently unwilling to add in another alpha to a group of people who they'd only just met, potential mate or no, Maria at least wanted to be able to see Darcy with her own eyes.

Maria's pacing was interrupted by her phone pinging, and the speed with which Maria dove to pick it up would have been highly embarrassing to Maria in any other situation, but Maria was far past caring about embarrassing herself now.

> Nat: sorry, we're okay, we're both okay  
>  Nat: darcy and I are back at the tower
> 
> Maria: Thank fucking god.  
>  Maria: Can I call you? Or see you? Or Darcy?

Maria winced slightly at how desperate that sounded, but only very slightly.

> Nat: not tonight, darcy's already out cold  
>  Nat: she didn't get much sleep during the hostage situation and she's exhausted  
>  Nat: you can see me if you really need to, but you'd have to come to the tower
> 
> Maria: Easily done, I'm on my way right now. ETA 5 min.
> 
> Nat: but it would only be for a short time  
>  Nat: and you have to make sure you don't smell me too closely
> 
> Maria: Nat.  
>  Maria: Tell me what's going on.
> 
> Nat: I know I know, but I can't tell you all the details tonight  
>  Nat: but I promise you that you will be involved tomorrow  
>  Nat: put in your request to Fury for time off now
> 
> Maria: Alright, I'm taking you at your word.

Maria was already almost to the tower and she had no idea how she'd managed to send three text messages while nearly running.

> Nat: tell me when you get here, meet me in my apartment
> 
> Maria: I'm getting into the elevator now.
> 
> Nat: ok, heading over

Maria made it up to Natasha's floor just as Natasha was opening her apartment door, and Maria immediately made note of the fact that Natasha was wearing the specialty clothes that Stark kept stocked in his heat rooms—Maria had actually been the one to assist him with finding them, because Tony had been pestering Fury to the point of annoyance about using SHIELD's databases and resources, so naturally Fury had foisted the giant man-child on Maria.

Natasha motioned for quiet and restraint, then held the door open for Maria.

"Can I at least hold or kiss you?" Maria asked, trying not to sound desperate but not sure if she succeeded.

Natasha frowned, considering. "That's a lot more contact than is safe. If you catch my scent right now you probably won't be able to sleep tonight."

"I'm willing to risk it," Maria said.

Natasha's lips twitched upwards in amusement, and then she sighed. "Alright."

Before the word even fully left Natasha's lips, Maria was on her, wrapping Natasha up in a bear hug, letting all her worries and frustrations drain away with the comforting hold of this amazing woman who was also one of Maria's mates. Natasha's arms had come up around Maria to return the hug almost instantaneously, and Maria hummed in contentment.

"Baby, stop, or you're going to catch the scent on me," Natasha chided gently, tapping Maria's shoulder urgently as if tapping out of a hold in training.

Maria pulled back to nuzzle Natasha's cheek, preparing to step back out of her arms, when Natasha grabbed either side of Maria's face and pulled their mouths together in an intense but brief kiss. Natasha then pushed herself backwards and stepped away from Maria. The assistant director found herself standing there stunned—when Natasha had briefly swept her tongue into Maria's mouth, the spy had tasted _amazing_. Whatever that was, Maria needed more of it, and she promptly stepped forward and captured Natasha's lips with hers again.

She coaxed Natasha's mouth open, and then licked into it everywhere she could, exploring Natasha's mouth and needing more of that amazing taste. Natasha was obviously surprised by Maria's kiss, and at first participated enthusiastically, but then started pulling back. "Baby," she said, in between Maria's kisses, "baby, you have to stop, wait."

Finally Maria managed to control herself and pulled back, and Natasha stepped carefully away from her, eyeing the alpha in front of her with concern. "You tasted something in my kiss, didn't you?"

Maria stepped forward slightly without being aware of it, and said fervently, "You taste amazing, like I can't get enough of you. That's not you? Was that the omega?" The last question was coupled with another half step towards Natasha.

Natasha stepped away again, holding her hands up. "You can't be with her tonight, you have to wait for tomorrow, and if you get any more of that you won't be able to sleep."

"I already won't be able to sleep," Maria said, barely repressing the urge to step closer to Natasha again.

Sighing, Natasha dropped her hands. "Okay fine, but if you can't sleep tonight you have no one to blame but yourself-" Maria surged forward to kiss her again, but Natasha quickly brought up a hand to stop her "-and you have to put in your request for leave right now before you can do anything else."

Maria rumbled in disapproval, but she obediently pulled out her phone and started the secure login process. Though she dearly wanted to kiss Natasha more while she was waiting for the connection to complete, she knew Natasha was right in telling her to finish this first or she'd never want to stop kissing Natasha. Maria wandered over to the couch and sat down, keying in the various passcodes, surreptitiously sniffing at the couch to catch both Natasha and Darcy's scents on it. Natasha caught her doing that and lifted an imperious eyebrow at her, but Maria just grinned and leaned deliberately over to press her nose into the couch and inhale deeply, not breaking eye contact with Natasha the entire time. Natasha shuddered even from across the room.

Her phone beeped to let her know she was logged in, and Maria set to work filling out the always impossibly long paperwork, marking this one as urgent and sending it directly to Fury's queue. She just hoped that he wouldn't try to question her about it tonight—she was going to have much more important things to do tonight. Maria eyed Natasha where she was leaning against the counter at the other end of the room, and the spy blushed. Having filled out this particular form dozens of times before, Maria made quick work of this one, not bothering to be wordy on paper since she knew that Fury would want to question her in person tomorrow no matter what she wrote. As soon as the file confirmed as being sent, Maria disconnected from SHIELD and stood up, tossing her phone down on the couch.

Natasha stood up from the counter, and before she could do more than take a single step forward, Maria was there, scooping up Natasha into her arms again and kissing the beta passionately. Natasha moaned, and said breathlessly, "Bedroom." Maria wasted no time arguing and picked up the shorter woman, who promptly wrapped her legs around Hill's waist, and carried her into Natasha's bedroom. Maria's desire was intense and insatiable, and she stripped off the heat clothes quickly, Natasha doing the same with Maria's work clothes.

As soon as Natasha had the button and zipper down on Maria's pants, the alpha pushed them down and kicked both them and her shoes off urgently. She was incredibly hard, and had been so since Natasha's tongue had dipped into her mouth, and needed to be inside Natasha like she needed to breathe. Maria pushed them both to the center of the bed and began rubbing herself against Natasha's entrance, finding the beta to be wet and getting wetter. Natasha was making these delicious noises, and after Maria bit down hard enough to leave a mark over Natasha's scent glands, the spy spread her legs and pulled Maria into place.

Maria didn't waste time, and immediately started dipping inside, moaning as each stroke took her deeper. Natasha swore in Russian and hooked her legs onto Maria's hips, wrapping her hands around to Maria's back and insistently tugging the alpha closer. Maria obliged, thrusting deeper and growling, and Natasha moaned and arched her back. The Russian's moans and cries were getting higher pitched, and Maria could tell that she wasn't going to last long like this, so she shifted her thrusts to the angle that seemed to drive Natasha over the edge quickly. As soon as she moved, she could tell she'd gotten it right because Natasha cried out and started pushing herself against Maria urgently.

The beta's obvious need pushed Maria right to the edge, and she pressed in hard, bottoming out and grinding in against Natasha's clit. Natasha instantly toppled over the edge, crying out Maria's name. The alpha alternately thrust in and ground in, guiding Natasha through her orgasm, until suddenly Maria couldn't hold on any longer and she surged into her climax as well. Natasha cried out again as Maria surged into her, pushing in deeply, and Maria ground her through her second orgasm. When Natasha had quieted under her, Maria realized that once wasn't going to be enough for her—she was still incredibly hard—so she pulled out and then gently rolled Natasha over onto her stomach. Guiding her legs wider, Maria lined herself up and started pushing in, Natasha making a soft sigh as she did so.

Maria kneaded Natasha's ass with her hands in time with her even strokes, making the beta moan and arch under her. When Natasha started actively participating, Maria pressed herself fully down on the beta and started thrusting with more power, causing Natasha to fist the sheets. Maria gripped Natasha's hips and pulled her back towards her with each thrust, Natasha pushing back in time with her movements soon after she started. Maria was getting really close again really fast, so she moved her hands to start rubbing Natasha's nipples, and nibbling at Natasha's back and neck.

When Maria took the base of Natasha's neck in her teeth and bit down, Natasha arched hard into Maria, presenting herself at the perfect angle for Maria's thrusts. Maria nearly came right there, but managed to push Natasha down against the sheets and hold her there while Maria hit the angles that she knew Natasha liked while she bit Natasha's neck tightly. It was a struggle to keep from orgasming, because Natasha's squirms as she got closer kept threatening to send Maria over the edge at any second, but Maria's teeth on her neck made the beta's movements less than they otherwise would have been. The alpha was sure she was just about to lose it and come first—Natasha was right on the edge and bucking into Maria _hard_ —so Maria bit down hard into Natasha's neck, right over the scent gland.

Natasha came with a loud wordless cry, twitching and writhing, just as Maria lost all control and climaxed. Maria held on tightly with her teeth, pressing into Natasha's bucking hips, and letting Natasha's own movements ride her through her orgasm. Maria had no real control over her own body right then anyway, and just tried to hold on while the waves of pleasure overwhelmed her. Gradually, Natasha fell still and Maria's squirting slowed, and she released the bite on Natasha's neck, laving the circle of red teethmarks she'd left behind. Natasha moaned at the sensation and then sighed, relaxing into the attention.

Maria twitched inside of Natasha with a low moan, and the beta spy said, voice rough, "Oh my god Maria, do you need to go again? Shouldn't you be saving this up for tomorrow when you'll have to help me take care of an omega?"

Maria twitched hard at the thought of caring for an omega and moaned again. "Tomorrow?" she asked breathlessly to confirm.

Natasha pried one eye open to look at Maria. "Twenty-ish hours from now," she corrected.

"So really, the middle of the night tomorrow night," Maria translated. "I'll be plenty rested by then." She pressed tender kisses to Natasha's back, and started sliding in and out again to test it—and yep, she was definitely going to need another round.

Natasha huffed and started getting up, so Maria leaned back to give her space, sliding out of her. Natasha got to her knees and turned around, pushing Maria backwards onto the bed. "My turn now," Natasha said with a wicked glint in her eyes, and climbed up to Maria's waist to straddle her, helping guide Maria back inside her.

It was going to be a long night, but Maria was not complaining.


	3. I hope you can eat quickly

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Used abbreviations in this fic (Darcy's chat messages):
> 
> poc - point of contact  
> u - you  
> w - with  
> diff - different
> 
> Not sure it's necessary but just in case.

Darcy woke up the next morning feeling both great and really, really weird. She felt sort of like she was hearing everything with an echo, or like everything was at some distance from her. She stretched against the incredibly comfortable bed and then opened her eyes, finding a mess of red hair splayed over the pillow next to her. Darcy smiled and pressed her face forward in that direction, nosing around until she came up against warm skin, and then nuzzled there, peppering her mate with kisses as she did so.

Natasha mumbled something unintelligible and then pushed herself up to peer down at Darcy, somehow already seeming more awake than Darcy currently was.

"Heeeeey," Darcy greeted her happily, and Natasha's face twitched twice like it did when she was fighting a smile, then the smile broke through.

"Hi Darcy," Natasha said, with a touch of resignation in her voice—and Darcy supposed then that maybe she should have let the spysassin keep sleeping, but Natasha was just so _kissable_ that the new omega hadn't been able to help herself. The Avenger reached one hand up to caress Darcy's cheek and seemed to be studying her. "How are you feeling this morning?"

"I feel great," she said, enunciating each word clearly. "And also really weird?" Darcy's stomach growled. "And hungry."

Natasha chuckled. "Well, that's probably to be expected—those suppressants were almost prescription strength, so you might be a little loopy today." Her eyes were studying Darcy's face and tracking the sleepy movements of her hands.

"Are you going to stay with me to make sure I don't _loopy_ my way into trouble?" Darcy asked, eyes sparkling with mischief.

Smiling widely, Natasha replied, "I'm not sure if I or anyone else could make sure you don't 'loopy your way into trouble', even when you're not actually loopy." The spy sat back onto her haunches, and since the intern didn't want her to get further away, Darcy pushed herself up onto her elbows.

"But are you staying?" Darcy insisted—clearly this was the important part to her.

"Yes baby, I'm staying," Natasha answered, relenting. "Now let's see about getting you breakfast."

Darcy 'helped' until Natasha ordered her to a chair—she couldn't help it though, her beta spy mate just smelled so good that the newly revealed omega wanted to bury her nose into Natasha's neck and keep it there _f_ _or days_. So now she just stared at the beta making breakfast, and the Avenger's loose shirt slipped down to reveal a new bite mark on her neck. Darcy straightened.

"Where'd you get that?" the intern asked. "Did I do that?"

Surprising and delighting Darcy, Natasha blushed bright red. "No, that was from Maria. She messaged me last night after you'd fallen asleep and wanted to see us both with her own eyes to make sure we were okay. Since you were asleep already, I told her no for you, but to make her feel better I went over to see her and ...," Natasha trailed off, waving a hand at her neck.

" _Really_ ," Darcy said, the single word dripping with meaning. "Is that why you smell so good this morning?" Thinking about Maria, the omega also spontaneously added, "Is Maria going to come over again?"

Natasha fixed Darcy with a searching look. "Do you want her to come over?" she asked pointedly.

The intern thought about it and blushed. "I ... yes? But ... maybe later?"

The spy seemed happy with that answer and went back to flipping sausages and eggs. "She'll probably want to come over when she gets off work, and then she can bring you food."

"Alright," Darcy said, nodding. She'd missed Maria and did want to see her again. And she smelled so nice all the time, the omega's sillier side added.

Natasha continued cooking for a few minutes, and then turned around to face Darcy, sighing heavily. "I'd like to have Maria come over, and I think it would be good for both of you for Maria to be here during your heat, but ... you do realize what it means if she comes here within the next four or five days, right?"

Darcy blinked, and Natasha continued onward.

"It means that Maria will know that you're an omega."

All of Darcy's insides suddenly felt like they were moving, and she felt simultaneously afraid and slightly ill.

Natasha watched her intently, and said, "Neither of us would ever tell anyone about your status if you wanted to remain hidden, and you could stay living as an alpha the entire rest of your life and neither Maria or I would care any less about you. And we would also still care about you just as much as we do now if you chose to openly present as an omega, but Darcy ... letting people in, letting people know—specifically your mates—will help you, whatever it is you ultimately choose to do. But just let us help you, let _Maria_ help you. I guarantee you that she will not react negatively or treat you any differently after finding out what your status is." Natasha ended her speech holding the omega in her arms, hands on the younger woman's cheeks, caressing, as she held Darcy's eyes.

The intern looked down, and chewed her lip, feeling torn internally.

"Darcy," the redheaded spy said, and she waited until Darcy raised her eyes up to meet Natasha's before continuing, "did me finding out help you? Was me finding out a good thing or a bad thing?"

"A good thing," the omega answered without hesitation. It really had been a relief to tell Natasha, despite all the fear and anxiety preceding it.

Her mate smiled and stroked Darcy's cheek. "So, letting Maria know would probably be good as well, right? Then you'd have two people you could rely on to help you if you ever got stuck in a bad situation again—like we could make sure you have your suppressants at all times, and bring you more if you ever get stuck somewhere and run out."

Darcy smiled faintly, but then lifted up a finger and pointed it at Natasha's nose, asking surprisingly coherently, "But does that mean you're _both_ going to get all flustered and Hulk out on me if I get in danger? Like if you had known that I was an omega when the hostage situation had gone down, would you have run in before backup had even arrived and possibly put yourself in danger?"

Natasha winced. "No? I mean, we both were extremely worried about you from the moment you stopped texting us so constantly—Maria and I knew something was up then. And then when you messaged us about the hostage takers, we both wanted to go after you to do the rescue, just the two of us, but we waited until the team was assembled and we had coordinated with local law enforcement." Natasha looked into Darcy's eyes again, impressing on her the Avenger's sincerity. "So no, I don't think we would go 'all Hulk' and run into danger recklessly."

Darcy relaxed into Natasha's arms, convinced. "Alright, then I think we should tell Maria, although ... I think I'd rather if you told her? I'm ... not sure I want to talk about it." Darcy's mouth quirked to the side in distaste at the idea of trying to find the words to explain.

"I can do that," Natasha agreed, and kissed Darcy on the nose. The omega immediately took that as an opening to kiss her mate more, until Natasha made her sit down again to wait till breakfast was done. Darcy grumbled under her breath, but sat down and waited.

====

Being the handler for years over multiple agents, and being involved in the setup and execution of lots of different mission plans, Maria was pretty good at figuring out mysteries, but this one had her stumped. Hill had woken up this morning to an empty bed smelling of Natasha and sex—and of Darcy too, but less so—and feeling pretty good about herself. She had already submitted her request for leave to Director Fury, and Natasha had all but promised her that she'd be with the spy in the heat room with an omega who was almost certainly a potential mate, and Darcy would almost certainly be in there as well.

Fury had been reasonably upset at the lack of notice—although really, she was giving him a day more notice than if she had been on the ground in the mission op with Natasha when she'd encountered the in-heat omega—and had grilled her on the details which Natasha had not disclosed to Maria, but even he could not deny the fact that Hill bore clear signs of heat association. A very prominent sign, front and center as it were, that Maria couldn't get to go down no matter how many cold showers or boring/unarousing things she tried to think of. Surprisingly, this had caused a whole slew of people at SHIELD to start hitting on her of all people, when none of them had ever looked at her twice before—or not that she ever saw. It was frankly rather perplexing. Just because Maria got stuck with a hard-on all day and moderately dilated eyes, somehow that made her more attractive? The assistant director didn't understand it, and eventually she had to hide in her office, only coming out from behind her desk when absolutely necessary.

By the time afternoon rolled around, she was having serious problems, both from the extra sexual attention and also because it had been a few hours since she last had sex with Natasha, and the heat effects had increased her libido—this was of course one of the clues that had informed Maria that the in-heat omega was a potential mate, because only mate-heats affected anyone that strongly. She definitely couldn't get up from her desk without showing just how affected she was, and she had started growling at people who tried to talk to her, or even at nothing at all. Finally, Maria gave up, and went to Fury's office, and just stood there until he admitted that she probably needed to leave and 'take care of that problem'—his words, not hers.

And then there were the text messages. Natasha had messaged Maria and asked her to pick up takeout on her way over, which was pretty normal for their interactions. Then when Hill asked for requests, the Russian had sent Maria basically a list of every single one of Darcy's favorites from that particular restaurant, with not a single one item more or less, and it was a big list. The assistant director had tried questioning the number of items on the list, but Natasha had just seemed harried and insisted that was the correct list, and would Maria please just get the food already. That didn't seem like the sort of thing that would happen if Darcy were there helping her, but clearly the young intern _was_ helping Natasha, unless the in-heat omega happened to like exactly the same things that Darcy liked, with nothing excluded or added. Hill had then asked what the spy wanted, and Natasha just asked Maria to get a second of whatever she got for herself, and it was just ... so strange.

Then, the later text messages—which came while Maria was hiding in her office and trying desperately to cure her very obviously increased sex drive with piles of boring paperwork, and were most certainly not helping with either task.

> Nat: hiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
> 
> Maria: ???
> 
> Nat: this is darcy  
>  Nat: hi maria
> 
> Maria: Hi Darcy. Where did your phone go?
> 
> Nat: dunno  
>  Nat: but nats sleeping  
>  Nat: and i dont wanna wake her up  
>  Nat: i think shes really tired
> 
> Maria: Well, definitely let her sleep then.
> 
> Nat: i accidentally woke her up this morning with kisses, and i think she was disappointed  
>  Nat: about the sleep not the kisses  
>  Nat: but she was so pretty and smelled so good i couldnt help myself  
>  Nat: i just had to kiss her
> 
> Maria: I admit Natasha is very pretty and very nice to kiss.
> 
> Nat: youre pretty too and u smell good too  
>  Nat: when are you coming over
> 
> Maria: Where are you now?
> 
> Nat: in the apartment w nat
> 
> Maria: In Natasha's apartment?
> 
> Nat: no, diff apartment  
>  Nat: i cant wait till u get here, i miss u
> 
> Maria: I miss you too, Darcy. Don't worry, I'll be there in a few hours.

By this time, Maria was worried that Darcy might be heat-crazed or otherwise inebriated, which might explain why Natasha seemed so harried, and so she asked the young intern to try and be nice and helpful to Natasha since she seemed to need it. Darcy agreed and also said that she was going to be sure that the spy Avenger took a nice long nap, which made Hill feel better, and she had turned her attention back to her work.

Later, Maria got some texts from Natasha—actually Natasha this time and not Darcy with the spy's phone.

> Nat: sorry about that, darcy got a hold of my phone
> 
> Maria: It's alright. I was just surprised.
> 
> Nat: yeah me too  
>  Nat: not that I put any real security on this thing, but I didn't realize Darcy knew my password
> 
> Maria: Well, we can't be super spies all the time.
> 
> Nat: I resent that insinuation  
>  Nat: anyway, serious talk for a moment, as darcy says  
>  Nat: when you get here, I want to explain what's going on to you
> 
> Maria: Okay.
> 
> Nat: so I want you to not ask any pointed or searching questions of darcy  
>  Nat: she doesn't want to have to talk about this right now  
>  Nat: so your poc will be me for all info, but not until you get here  
>  Nat: messaging is obviously not secure
> 
> Maria: Um, okay? I think?  
>  Maria: Don't get me wrong, I definitely want to get an explanation.  
>  Maria: But this is ... unusual.
> 
> Nat: tell me about it  
>  Nat: but more details later  
>  Nat: uh oh I think darcy's getting into trouble again I gotta go
> 
> Maria: ?????  
>  Maria: You remind her that I asked her to be on her best behavior for you.

So now, Maria was carrying an obscene amount of Chinese takeout—while keeping one of the bags strategically placed right in front of her crotch—and waiting for the elevator to take her to the emergency heat floor. She honestly had no idea what to expect other than some very simple details. Despite all the details being simple, the fact was that they just didn't add up. Maria kept trying to put two and two together and kept coming up with three, and she had no idea what was wrong or where to start looking for the problem.

Luckily, Natasha's promised explanation meant that all Maria had to do to solve this mystery was walk into the heat room, but Hill was a little disappointed in herself that she hadn't been able to solve it on her own first. Maria was supposed to be a master of strategy, of hiding feints within feints within feints, and being able to understand other people's feints within feints within feints. But this? This just stumped her.

JARVIS announced her impeding arrival to the heat floor, and asked her to please stay to the designated path. The AI had made Maria wait for a few minutes in the lobby before she was approved to go up, and that was yet another puzzling thing. Natasha had obviously been expecting her, and so Maria didn't know why approval wasn't already waiting for her. Maybe the Avenger had been so overwhelmed looking after Darcy and/or this mystery omega that she had forgotten? But that didn't sound like Natasha either.

Maria sighed and thanked JARVIS for his help, who graciously said she was welcome and apologized for the delay. At least the AI was always polite to Hill, even on those few times when Maria fucked up. The elevator doors dinged open, and the alpha assistant director followed JARVIS' directions exactly until she was at heat door five. She knocked on the door—there was no doorbell—and JARVIS instructed her that the door was unlocked and that she should let herself in and shut the door behind her.

Opening the door released a wave of heat pheromones that almost made Maria's knees buckle, but she managed to get herself inside quickly. Once she'd stepped inside and shut the door as asked, Maria went to the small kitchen and dropped her bags on the counter. She didn't seen anyone around, and JARVIS had warned her not to call or shout or make loud noises once inside, so Maria went to explore. She couldn't hear anyone in the apartment. Maybe Darcy and Natasha were in another adjacent heat room and were going to come here later?

After taking a moment to adjust to the heat-scent—it wasn't quite as strong as that first whiff, possibly because the full twenty-four hours hadn't passed to get rid of the suppressant yet—Maria walked around to sit down on the couch. Once she'd gone around to the front of the couch though, she found out why the apartment was so quiet and why JARVIS had instructed her not to make loud noises. Both Natasha and Darcy were laying down on the couch, and the Avenger appeared to be deeply asleep. When Maria came into view, Darcy lifted her head up to smile at her brightly.

"Hi," Darcy said softly. "See? I'm letting her sleep."

Maria's lips quirked up into a smile. "I can see that."

Darcy turned her gaze back to Natasha, staring at the sleeping beta with something like awe. "She's just so pretty, and she's even prettier when she's asleep. I don't even know how it's possible." Darcy stared for a bit longer, then looked up at Maria again. "I can't wait to see what you look like when you sleep," she said, eyes shining.

Maria ducked down next to Darcy so she could kiss this adorable and obviously high goofball, being careful to avoid jostling Natasha. Darcy sighed contentedly at the kiss and closed her eyes, letting her head fall back against the couch. Maria however had a different reaction from the kiss—she caught Darcy's scent, and the young intern smelled so strongly of heat-scent omega that Maria could tell she was the source for the scent in this room. Darcy also didn't smell anything like alpha—and not because she'd had her alpha scent overpowered by the heat-scent of an omega either, but because she had no alpha scent whatsoever.

Suddenly all the clues fit together perfectly—there was no mystery omega in this heat-room, and everything had been about Darcy, because Darcy _was_ the omega. She wasn't actually an alpha at all. Maria stood there, still half-bent over from her kiss, staring at the omega lying on the couch, while her mind quietly exploded from the implications of this realization. This was not helped by the fact that Darcy's heat-scent was starting to affect her more while Hill was this close, and that the newly revealed omega was completely stark naked—and Maria had a much better view of Darcy's chest from this side.

Darcy opened her eyes in the midst of Maria's internal freakout and smiled widely up at the alpha standing over her. Then with a sparkle of mischief in her eyes, Darcy very slowly and deliberately leaned her head over and took the exposed skin on Maria's forearms—where Maria was holding herself up on the couch—into her teeth and bit down slightly with a growl. Maria's reaction was instant and involuntary. Her entire body tensed and she surged forward slightly, growling in answer to the omega's call.

Natasha popped her eyes open with a jolt, and at a glance took in the situation—Darcy biting onto Maria's arm—then promptly pressed her face into Darcy's neck and licked as a distraction. Darcy let go with a mewl, and pressed her neck upwards into Natasha's mouth, silently begging for more. Natasha must have seen the danger, because she pulled her head back and got up on all fours over Darcy on the couch.

"Darcy, no turning Maria on until the twenty-four hours of your suppressant have passed," Natasha chided in a tired tone as if she'd told Darcy the same thing multiple times already.

Darcy pouted cutely with a huff, and Maria came to the rescue, saying, "I brought food. Are you hungry?"

Darcy brightened and turned her attention to Maria's face, but then she seemed to get stuck there, eyes scanning over Maria's face and then chest. Natasha got up from the couch and guided Maria up and away as well.

"It works better if you're not standing too close to her when you ask something," Natasha said lowly, then turned back to Darcy and said in a normal voice, "I bet we've got a few of your favorites in here too." Natasha made her way over into the kitchen and then her eyes widened at the quantity of bags. "I didn't realize it'd be so much."

"Yeah, it's a lot," Maria said as she followed Natasha into the kitchen, trying to ignore the way Darcy was standing up and stretching ostentatiously next to the couch. The omega was still completely naked, and now there wasn't an Avenger laying on top of her to cover anything up. Maria had always known Darcy was well-endowed and deliciously curvy—it was difficult to miss, even when the young omega was fully clothed—but Maria had never seen Darcy's body so fully on display before. After finishing her obviously intentional stretch, the omega started walking over to the kitchen, and Maria made a noise in the back of her throat, giving Natasha a desperate look. The spy for her part, appeared to be trying to suppress a smile, lips twitching, but she came to Maria's rescue anyway and pulled out some of the containers, starting to list off the dishes.

"Oh oh! I want sweet and sour chicken," Darcy said eagerly, not quite running up, but hurrying enough that Maria was totally distracted by Darcy's naked self bouncing on the way. Natasha relinquished the container and chopsticks to Darcy.

"But you have to go eat this over on the couch and watch TV for a bit because Maria and I have to talk work for a few minutes, and then after that we could probably check to see if your suppressants have worn off yet," Natasha said.

Already halfway back to the couch, Darcy back at Natasha with an eager smile, and then looked over at the clock. "I thought I had to wait three more hours?"

"Well, I don't know how exact the twenty-four hour wait period is, or if it maybe changes from person to person, so we should see. You're certainly displaying lots of heat signs."

Sighing dramatically, Darcy dropped down onto the couch. "I knooooooow, and it's annoying having to wait."

Natasha nodded. "I know, and next time we'll need to take that into consideration so we don't overdo the suppressant."

Darcy snorted. "Honestly, I hope there isn't a next time at all—this was kinda awful. I mean, the running around high and naked and having both you and Maria stare at me like you want to eat me whole is nice, but I'd really like to skip all the rest of it," Darcy said surprisingly coherently as she dug into her food.

Maria had reached over and gripped Natasha's arm tightly when Darcy had casually mentioned not wanting any more heats, so Natasha had to gently pry herself loose before guiding the tense alpha into the bedroom, although she did not close the door behind them.

In low tones, Natasha said, "Ok, so I'm pretty sure that you've already figured out that Darcy is really an omega that was just passing as an alpha—and very well, I might add, because she had me completely fooled—but there are lots of other moving parts involved here. I don't even know what they all are, but I can make some educated guesses about the rest." Natasha spoke faster than normal and kept glancing over at the open bedroom door, pulling Maria over to sit down with her on the edge of the bed where they had a direct view out to the couch.

"Basically, Darcy has been passing as an alpha since she was a child, pre-presenting as a kind of defense against some childhood trauma. She's absolutely terrified of anyone knowing she's an omega, and I fully expect that she'll want to go back to hiding her status once this heat is over. In fact, I think the only reason Darcy isn't panicking or terrified right now at you knowing she's an omega is because of the calming effect of the emergency heat suppressant—when I found out about it she was on the edge of a panic attack for probably a solid two hours before I was able to get her to calm down and let me help her."

Maria swore under her breath.

"She's never had a heat before, and she implied that she's never even had sex before, even though in her daily interactions she has an incredibly dirty mouth—that was apparently just a defense, which is I believe is also what her bravado and sarcasm were. Right now we're in a really difficult spot, because all Darcy's instincts right now insist that she should be having wild sex, but the suppressants are preventing her from forming the heat slick, so she can't actually have sex. The suppressants also impair her judgment—although honestly that could also be the heat—so of course she keeps trying to act on her instincts to flirt or growl or otherwise try to call to her mates to have sex with her."

"Which is why she was trouble all day," Maria finished for her, "and you sounded so overwhelmed—god, how did you even manage to send me any text messages at all?"

"Honestly, just lots of distraction and deflection. You extracting that promise from Darcy to behave actually helped, too. I kept bringing it up and implied that there would be some kind of reward from her alpha when you got here—just as a heads up," Natasha said, the last part in an amused tone.

" _Fuck_." Maria found herself gripping the bedcover tightly. "That's a hell of a thing to spring on me when we have to wait three more hours."

Natasha smirked, then said wryly, "Yeah, well I had to actually be here through all that. I _could_ have probably left her here alone with just JARVIS and her series, but ... of course I _couldn't_ actually leave her here alone. Even with the trouble, I had a serious need to be where I could keep watch over her."

Maria reached over and gripped Natasha's shoulder in silent solidarity. After a few moments of just enjoying each other's presence and the relative calm in the bedroom, Natasha sighed, getting up off the bed. "Come on, we'd better go get some food in both of us while she's distracted with eating. I hope you can eat quickly."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, that makes both alternate timeline stories finished! Now I just need to work more on the main story, Making Soft Sounds (https://archiveofourown.org/works/18978253). Wanda and Pietro appearances are imminent!


End file.
